Senate Committee — TRCM — Brief — ss-2cbc_pbc21_brief_e

TRCM / Brief / ss-2cbc_pbc21_brief_e

Senate Committees

PBC21: Public Broadcasting for Canada in the 21st Century DPC21: Diffusion publique au Canada pour le 21ième siècle Canada.pbc21@gmail CBC/Radio-Canada: Making It Better The participants in PBC21/DPC21 are a loosely affiliated group of concerned Canadians. Each has a deep appreciation for the Corporation and a history with it ‘on air’ or in production, in administration or management or through the regulatory process. Our collective experience was built over many decades in locations from coast to coast and in the north, working with broadcasters in both official as well as in aboriginal languages.

None of us is currently employed by or contractually committed to the Corporation or any related agency. Since 2011, PBC21/DP21 has actively engaged in the regulatory and policy processes that shape Canada’s communications infrastructure via written submissions, participation in public forums and comment in the media. I DEFINING THE PROBLEM PBC21 believes the Corporation must radically shift funding and program priorities, mostly within its English operations so that station and network funding and program priorities are focused on rebuilding its crucial local and regional services.

Almost all of the cornucopia of content available to Canadians in the Information Age is created for commercial purposes by foreign producers. Most of the small amount created domestically is shaped to appeal to international markets. The diminished share of domestic news, current affairs and public service content now produced by CBC minimizes local and regional issues and regional culture. Data on the Corporation’s internal distribution of funding from 2012 to 2022 are attached in Appendix A.

The 56% reduction in spending on CBC-TV News and 20.7 % reduction in Radio-Canada’s equivalent services mean that each year hundreds of thousands of dollars were redirected from essential staff and program hours for local/regional news services to development of new digital offerings championed by the network.

2 Over the same period, the regionally produced programs that reported on and showcased local performers, achievements and the regional arts scene have vanished from CBC-TV and Radio. Recent data 1 indicate that Radio-Canada maintains this critical connection, devoting $18 million to music/variety programming (as compared to CBC- TV’s meagre $2 million) and $31 million to human interest production (while CBC-TV assigns only $409 thousand) - a trenchant reminder of the abjuration by Graham Spry (often hailed as the Father of the CBC) that “Broadcasting is about people talking to people”.

Failing to do that means audiences will go elsewhere. The facts are clear: local stations have lost the staff that enabled them to connect with and serve their audiences. Audiences across the country began to complain about shrinking local and regional coverage outside major centres like Toronto and Vancouver decades ago.

Inside the Corporation, staff were told that they had to learn “to do more with less.” Just how much less they had to work with is illustrated in this example from a long time CBC network host, producer, director and manager: “I moved to CBC Regina in 1986 from the English national broadcast headquarters in Toronto. The Saskatchewan regional operation was housed in the Al Johnson Broadcast Centre where regional management and public relations teams interacted with local citizens. Some 450 or more employees contributed local, regional and national network programs on radio and television, in English and French.

Vibrant cultural programming, news and information series and special broadcasts were produced in a number of radio and television studios. Saskatchewan had a network presence on CBC radio and TV and provided a wide variety of public service programming locally. “Nearly 40 years later, there are fewer than 50 CBC/R-C employees housed as tenants in the building now owned and operated by the Saskatchewan Provincial Archives. Television studios were sold to “The John Hopkins Sound Stage” complex. Most of the radio facilities have been mothballed. “ Regional cultural programming is almost non-existent.

The quality of research, editing and production in local news and information programming has greatly declined due to a lack of human resources. 1 See Appendix A,

3 There is no longer a regional managerial presence; CBC Saskatchewan is now managed from Winnipeg, Manitoba.2 Details of the scope of change at CBC Saskatchewan are specific to that region but the story of regional decline is not unique. The diminution of local/regional CBC service is made even more alarming by the concomitant downsizing occurring at commercial radio and television broadcasters and at newspapers across Canada. This has led to skeleton staffs operating private radio and television stations, and an increasing series of bankruptcies and closures at local newspapers and radio stations.

Like the frog slowly dying in a pot of boiling water, the death of domestic media - and especially that of CBC’s local and regional efforts - happened in small increments over a period of decades; audiences became used to the shrinkage while being dazzled by the growing availability of international streaming options. The decline in access to local information and domestic storytelling was masked by the plethora of multi-national media sources coming online and available – at a cost - to most everyone, at all hours, almost anywhere.

The simple fact is that Canadians need a refocused, uniquely Canadian public service media now more than ever – one that is universally available and easily accessed without clutter or confusion. We cannot lose our national voice. II UNRAVELLING THE GORDIAN KNOT The Digital Revolution has completely fractured the CBC’s decades’ old public service model. When Corporate management determined to make CBC/Radio-Canada a domestic leader in the digital media revolution sweeping the planet, it was already suffering from reductions to its annual Parliamentary appropriation that occurred over a prolonged period.

TV audiences were cutting cable and moving to digital services - and advertisers followed viewers. CBC’s English Service, especially, moved resources from local and regional broadcast operations into a new suite of national digital offerings and staff. It redirected funds by increasing repeat broadcasts of network programming 2 Observation by Bruce Steele, veteran producer of Canadian radio and TV, Host of CBC Radio’s The Food Show, What on Earth, SCN’s Long Shadows, etc.

4 on radio and television and by increasing the acquisition of low-cost commercial style television programming, both Canadian and foreign. To find the revenue required to both operate new platform and maintain some semblance of traditional radio and television service, it actively pursued commercial revenue. It even openly described its English television service as “a commercial broadcaster with public participation” (i.e. appropriations from the public purse).

This had the effect of radically altering the nature of its relationship with its audience and with its approach to the core mission as a public service broadcaster. The goal became revenue generation rather than public service. Critics and audiences alike began to take note of the commercial load on TV and online, and of the commercial style of the programming being offered on CBC English television. The network, they said, looked and acted no differently than all the other commercial networks … and the station and network logs proved the viewers weren’t wrong.

III BACK TO BASICS CBC Radio was created as “a railroad for ideas”, carrying voices that spread news and culture from and between the many regions of this vast country. It was meant to tie the nation together in the face of a torrent of commercial news and entertainment flowing from powerful American sources in the 1930s. In the 1950s, CBC television laid a new set of tracks across Canada bringing visual displays of our diversity for all to see and consider. CBC’s digital services have added more tracks to that information railroad, providing more options for the delivery of national public media.

But anglophone Canadians have largely abandoned CBC television (for reasons noted above), while use of many other CBC services is fragmentary. Audiences might value CBC’s contribution to the nation more – and might return to CBC Television - if local and regional stations delivered as much vibrant information and cultural programming as they used to carry. Loyalty might return if CBC audiences could choose which technology to use to join in a focused, streamlined conversation with other Canadians and share in the issues, ideas and cultures of the day, rather than being directed to unfamiliar program sites.

5 CBC’s digital services now offer some differentiated content that can be distinct from that found on traditional CBC radio and TV. The net result in fiscal terms is that to produce different CBC content across multiple platforms spreads scarce resources even more thinly; there just isn’t enough money to do it all and do it all well. Combined with on-going large staff cuts, the result is that the quality of individual productions inevitably suffers. Building “silos” of digital streams is a useful strategy if you are trying to attract advertisers to specific age groups or interest demographics.

But cost-cutting and siloed programming force CBC to focus on the kinds of differences that drive social media, the differences between genders, races, cultures and ideologies that ignite the internet. That is not a great idea if you want a public broadcaster to inform, inspire and entertain Canadians with an integrated stream of content shared between regions … if you want it to re-establish a national “railroad of ideas". It would be more productive for CBC to focus on what we share, the similarities between Canada’s peoples as much or more than our differences, in order to reinforce our national identity.

IV REFOCUSSING ON LOCAL/REGIONAL To modernize and adapt to 21 st century media technologies, CBC/Radio- Canada will have to make some tough decisions about which content streams to shutter. As part of that process, there are other service models from which Canada can learn. The deeply local presence of public media in the US is one. Its intense localism has been what makes US public media unique. Neither PBS nor NPR is a national network. Each is locally rooted and largely locally funded.

CBC/Radio-Canada, on the other hand is federally funded at a time when around the globe, there is a growing distrust of government-funded journalism and information systems. It is time for our system’s public element to be rethought and weaned from dependence on network schedules.

6 CBC needs to recast its national public media service by revitalizing the local and regional services at its core, and linking them to a spine of distinctive programming shared with the national audience on all its platforms, radio, television and various digital manifestations: a smaller quantity of higher quality programming for, by and about Canadians – presented commercial-free. To return to its public service mandate, CBC must emphasize – as Radio- Canada already does – the provision of “distinctive, unique, Canadian programming. • CBC should cease producing shows aimed at global markets.

If unique programming made for CBC does manage to attract international interest, all well and good. But the potential for multi- national distribution must not be the force driving program creation. That task should be left to Canada’s private broadcast networks. • Nor do we need CBC television doing more ‘versioning’ of commercially successful ‘hit shows’ from elsewhere, recast into Canadian derivatives. Audiences who are really keen on the originals can access them on line, via streaming, on cable, etc.

Public broadcasters in other jurisdictions are realizing that their appeal lies in not being directly competitive with commercial services. Rather they have to be complementary – and strongly reflective of their service area while sustaining a core of shared and universally available national programming. In Canada, it is imperative that CBC/R-C stations be allocated more control over finances and programming in order to rebuild service to local and regional audiences, leaving Toronto, Montreal (and possibly Vancouver) with reduced network responsibilities.

At P BC21, we think it’s time to turn CBC’s English radio and TV services on their heads, to again allow the strength and relevance of local programming, content and knowledge to thrive. Proof is found in data recently released by the CRTC that revealed that in 2023-24 the viewing share of CBC-TV bottomed out at 3.4%3 while conventional private services actually did better than any year in the previous decade, achieving a healthy 26%. But the Corporation has the potential for transformation: 3 See Tables 3 and 4, Appendix A.

7 • CBC.ca is a powerful online presence in Canada, especially in news. It too must become commercial-free and all its news reports (which are, after all, publicly funded) should be available for use, free of charge, by any other media organization in Canada with appropriate credit. In this way, CBC would play a more collaborative role in sustaining civic news and information in our digital age. • In recent years, CBC English services have created an excellent body of programming for and by Canada’s First Nations’ people.

But English Canadians remain woefully ignorant of the issues, news and cultural icons of French Canada, and especially of Quebec. Surely in an age of Artificial Intelligence, digital technologies and creative possibilities, it is possible to overdub, voice translate or sub- title to make at least some of Radio-Canada’s programming available to English-speaking Canadians, and vice versa. • The elimination of commercial revenues will mean, of course, that CBC/Radio-Canada faces radical change.

But the Corporation’s ability to attract commercial revenue is already very much reduced, with only a reported $196 million earned by its legacy TV and digital services in 2023.4 Eliminating advertising on all its platforms will mean that the Corporation will no longer bear the substantial annual internal cost of commercial sales5 so that will represent some compensatory saving. And that revenue will become available to Canada’s cash-starved private broadcasters.

V ENDNOTE Corporate change can be both difficult and unsettling but the status quo is no longer an option if a national English-language public media service is to survive north of the 49th parallel. Canada has the technical knowledge, the creative energy and the industrial sophistication to retool its public broadcasting service and reinvigorate both its public and private broadcasting sectors. The CRTC is now directing the evolution of Canada’s audio-visual infrastructure.

This creates an unprecedented opportunity and your Committee’s interest is well timed to help craft a contemporary communications infrastructure that could become an international inspiration. 4 See Table 2 in Appendix A. 5 “Combined the English and French CBC networks spent approximately $100 million annually on Sales and Promotion (in 2018/19), and roughly two-thirds of that is by CBC English TV.” Trends in CBC Expenditures and Advertising Revenue, CMRI, Barry Kiefl, Ottawa, 2020. p. 20.

8 Submitted 7 November 2024 on behalf of PBC21/DPC21, among whose members are Jeffrey Dvorkin Bruce Steele Paul Gaffney David Schatzky Kealy Wilkinson

9 Appendix “A” Table 1: Tracking CBC/R-C Expenditures, Revenue Allocation and Audience Share, 2012-22 Table 2:

Summary of CBC/Radio-Canada Filings with CRTC, 2023 Table 3: CMRI Table, CBC Radio-Canada Audience Data, 2023 Table 4 : Share of Anglophone Viewing, 2023

10 ITEM/SERVICE 2012 ($000s) 2022 ($000s) % +/- Parliamentary Appropriation PORTION of Parliamentary Grant Allocated to: CBC English TV Radio-Canada TV CBC Radio Radio-Canada Radio TOTAL* Operating Expenses ENGLISH CBC-TV CBC Radio CBC Specialty channels (CBC-NN, DOC) CBC Digital Platforms FRENCH R-C TV R-C Radio R-C Specialty channels (RDI, etc) R-C Digital Platforms TV News Expenditures CBC TV Radio-Canada TV CBC/RC Specialty Private TV (English & French) Private Specialty (English & French) Advertising Revenues CBC TV Radio-Canada TV CBC/R-C Specialty Channels Private TV (English & French) Private Specialty (English & French) Subscriber Revenues CBC/RC Specialty channels CBC/RC Digital Platforms CBC/R-C TOTAL Private Specialty (English & French)** $ 1,162,300 488,013 373,367 185,635 130,872 1,177,887 114,634 82,053 82,674 353,646 138,480 245,345 127,348 32,715 1,705,164 1,231,539 137,577 --- 137,577 2,485,184 $ 1,240,000 389,628 283,815 183,731 120,426 977,800 1,101,080 524,246 186,138 80,203 310,493 816,807 409,356 121,473 63,626 222,352 49,961 65,048 93,393 388,107 149,901 127,496 118,589 35,428 1,284,143 1,213,659 96,678 23,800 120,478 2,539,801 6.2 -20.1 -24.0 - 1.0 - 8.0 -56.4 -20.7 13.0 9.7 8.2 -48.0 - 6.9 8.3 -24.7 - 1.5 -29.7 n/a -12.4 2.2

11 Missing Subscriber Data No data available for the number of subscribers for CBC GEM, Ici Tou.TV, CBC Listen or OHdio.

Reach and Hours spent with TV, 2+ *** Weekly reach of traditional TV Weekly reach of TV including streaming Average Hours/week watched, TV Average Hours/week, TV + streaming Audience Share, all day excluding streaming CBC TV Radio-Canada TV CBC Radio Radio-Canada Radio CBC Specialty (News) Radio-Canada Specialty CBC/R-C.ca N/A 98% 98% 28.5 30.4 6.4% 12.9% 14.5% 17.8% 1.4% 4.6% <1% N/A 85% 97% 23.8 31.0 4.2% 14.8% 16.2% 22.1% 2.1% 5.6% <1% -16.5 5.3 -34.4 14.7 11.7 24.2 50.0 21.7 Sources: CMRI (CRTC, CBC. CBC Data for Sept. to August, CBC data for April to March).

See CRTC and CBC websites for methodology. *Total in 2012 does not match grant because of slightly different fiscal periods. ** excludes revenue data on private digital channels such as Crave TV. *** based on IAB analysis of Numeris and other sources (https://iabcanada.com/content/uploads/2022/12/CMUST-2022_

12 Table 2:

Summary of CBC/Radio-Canada Filings with CRTC, 2023 Expense Categories Conventional Conventional Discretionary TOTAL % of TV English TV French TV (E&

F) Pdctn (000) (000) (000) (000) _____________________________________________________________________________________________ News $50,281 $64,609 $92,827 $207,717 22.10 Analysis/Interpretation 4,492 21,218 4,512 30,222 3.22 Long form documentary 18,096 5,729 4,836 23,830 2.54 Other Information 8,574 6,735 643 15,952 1.70 Sports 6,745 55 --- 6,800 0.72 Drama/Comedy 128,919 64,499 1,856 195,274 20.78 Films 6,494 2,926 181 9,601 1.02 Animated 2,186 2,549 3 4,648 0.49 Music/Variety 2,113 18,167 917 21,197 2.26 Game Shows6 --- 12,377 --- 12,377 1.32 Human Interest 409 31,292 4,649 36,350 1.87 Reality TV 32,931 4,466 3 2,220 0.24 Award Shows 5,674 4,540 187 10,401 1.11 Other 1,811 406 3 2,220 0.24 TOTAL $ 441,563 $ 239,478 $ 258,470 $ 939,911 TV Revenues (Conv.) Local Time sales 9,542 18,461 28,003 National Time Sales 61,741 74,041 139,782 Government Grants 376,356 376,356 752,712 TOTAL $ 920,497 TV Revenues (Disc.) Terrestrial Subscribers 83,650 DTH Subscriber 13,590 National Advertising 32,551 Other 4,847 TOTAL $ 134,538 Radio Expenses Programming/production 143,308 94,488 237,756 Technical 10,928 6,173 17,101 Sales/promotion expenses 4,658 2,929 7,587 Admin/general expenses 27,793 17,647 45,440 TOTAL $ 186,687 $ 121,237 $ 307,924 Radio Revenues Government grants 186,512 122,057 308,569 Other revenue 6,906 4,869 11,775 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Source: CRTC 6 Included in English Reality Category to preserve confidence.

XXX Commercial revenue received in 2023 totals $196,336.

13 Table 3: CBC/Radio-Canada Audience data, 20237 CBC/ RADIO-CANADA SERVICES CBC ANNUAL REPORT �� % Estimated Mins/mo.

Per capita ��  CBC English TV 5.2 193 CBC News Network 2.0 74 CBC Radio Networks 14.6 266 Radio-Canada TV 23.4 327 Radio-Canada Specialty 6.2 87 Radio-Canada Radio Networks 24.8 174 TOTAL 1,120 CBC-RC.ca (includes viewing/listening to CBC Gem, Listen and French equivalents) 0.4 20 �� All share data from CBC Annual Report except CBC-RC.ca share and minute used which are CMRI calculations based on 2023 Comscore data. �� Minutes based on Numeris data published by CRTC total hours spent using TV/radio. https//crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/PolicyMionitoring/cmrd.htm 7 Communications Monitoring Research Inc.’s table included here with permission of Barry Kiefl, President.

NOTE: CBC/R-C excludes the summer viewing period from its Annual Reports. This accounts for the discrepancy between the 5.2% share noted above and the 3.4% share acknowledged in CRTC documents.

14 Table 4: Share of Anglophone Viewing, 2033 Source: CRTC

Document details

Collection	Senate Committees
Citation	TRCM / Brief / ss-2cbc_pbc21_brief_e
Type	committee
Volume / chapter	441 / Brief / ss-2cbc_pbc21_brief_e
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	COMM_SEN
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